Accusations of FUD, #fakenews and similar terms are sadly all too common in the crypto world. Startups in the field are many times headed by young people, sometimes bringing a needed fresh perspective and attitude, but a few appear to completely lack the maturity needed to run a public business. In the case of IOTA this is exacerbated by sycophants who enable this situation and rather attack critics than have an adult discussion.

IOTA Fans Try to Silence Critics

IOTA, the network behind the now 10th most valuable cryptocurrency in the world by market cap (MIOTA), is facing various criticism and doubts about its technological capabilities. While this should be expected for every project valued at almost $5 billion at such an early stage, promoters of IOTA are failing to accept this reality.

In the past few days, as more analysts raised questions about the project, IOTA fans lashed out even harder against critics, anonymously publishing hit pieces against some community influencers and trying to get others off of social media altogether. This is in addition to the standard operation method of IOTA whenever someone writes something they can’t handle, a childish or nasty ad hominem attack by the head of the team on Twitter followed by a barrage of similar insults by his minions (and likely many bots as the frequency seems to suggest).

Enemies List

Rather than reflect on the behavior that got them into hot water, IOTA promoters seem to be doubling down. They have embraced an ‘us vs. them’ mentality, wherein any reporter asking questions, any developer objecting to their non-blockchain solution, and even former investors who complain about their funds being stolen are all seen only as enemies attacking the group.

This is how an IOTA blogger described it today: “We decided to start an anti misinformation report that comes out daily if possible. A group of people is willing to help me with that. The reports will include timestamps, tweets, sources, names of the “attackers” and the FUD explained and corrected.” While this approach might intimidate some, it can not silence everyone in an ecosystem fraught with scams where fair judgment is needed.